travelmad

I am interested in hearing anyones stories who has just taken off to Oz or NZ with the intention of returning home but ended up living there?

Where do you live now , what do you do etc? Do you have any tips or advice on how you may or may not have done things differently?

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

Peter

You seriously expect them to own up? Australia is very hard on folk who overstay.

You are asking people to admit to what amounts to a violation of law.

ianj

Lord Lucan..........well maybe

Jaykay

I did it the other way around.

Went off to the UK for a 9 month holiday (my marriage had broken up and I needed "a change").

Ended up living there for 10 years before moving back to Oz last September with a spouse and a 5 year old daughter in tow!!

Living back in Melbourne, right back in the same suburb that I grew up in, with my sister and her family, my brother and his family and my parents all within a 5 minute drive of me (they never moved out of the area).

I was lucky enough to be offered a job by one of my oldest friends over here, so we end up reminiscing (sp?) alot about old times.

Feels like I've never left the place

bundy

Kind of...

I left a large part of myself (figuratively speaking) in a small outback town 4 years ago after living there for a year and meeting Mr B there. We were only supposed to come back to the UK for a year, maybe two, so that Mr B could experience life here and I could get my visa sorted. As I say, we've been here nearly 4 years, so I guess Mr B is the one whose holiday has run into living here! But we've always felt in limbo, knowing that the UK is merely a temporary place to live until we go back to Oz next summer

Jacqui

This is how my sister came to be living here. After leaving school she got a job and saved all her spare money because it was always her dream to travel. She went on a coach tour of Europe, then a tour of America and each time was gone some months. She went back to work and soon got itchy feet again. She subscribed to a backpacker's magazine and was keen to go to Australia but not alone. They matched her up with a chap who was also looking for a companion and they met a couple of times in the UK before setting off together. As you can imagine, our mum wasn't too chuffed about this! They backpacked across WA for a few weeks before falling out and going their separate ways. She met up with a fella, moved in with him and after a year or so applied for a de facto visa, but was told she had to apply outside of the country. Instead of going back home, she went to New Zealand. The visa took ages though and her time in New Zealand ran out so she returned to WA and chased the immigration dept. She was also running out of money. She eventually got her visa with just days to spare before she would have been forced to go back to the UK, which she definitely didn't want to do (much to our mum's distress). And she's been here ever since (about 12 years I think) although she has been back to the UK twice on visits. Her visa took nearly two years to get, but the route she went through has long since ended. She has never had any regrets and has no intentions of going back to the UK. She finally got round to getting her Oz citizenship last year.

NickyC

I came here on a WHV in 1979, meaning to stay for a year.

After being here for six months I knew that a year would not be long enough so I extended my visa for another six months (which you could do in those days).

After a year here, I knew that eighteen months would not be long enough so I applied for PR (which you could do in those days).

I'm still here. Never been homesick and never regretted it. One of my better decisions, I think.

Innyjim

Not particularly, a mate of mine has just returned from Sydney after overstaying 6 years on a WHV. He got a one year ban of entering Australia. Said immi people were really friendly and polite when he handed himself in......

bundy

My best mate is still in Oz. She went out there in 1999 and, throwing in the odd visa renewal trip to NZ, she's still there. She's now married an aussie.

soapy©

I know a guy who went over in a boat about a hundred years ago, didnt even need a visa !